By Cecelia Chase / The Jambar
The Youngstown State University men’s and women’s swim and dive teams made their first splash of the season at Beeghly Natatorium. The Penguins took on Horizon League opponent Oakland University in a two-day dual, Oct. 3-4.
Freshman Rafael Serey-Cormier splashed onto the scene in his competition debut and set a new program record with a win in the men’s one-meter dive with a score of 305 — to break the previous record of 286 set by former Penguin Cody Thill. Cormier also took home the three-meter victory on the second day with a score of 304.
Senior Zachary Lao finished behind Cormier with a score of 275. The women were led by junior Hanna Held, who won the three-meter and one-meter dive with scores of 266 and 275.
The men’s 200 medley relay was made up of senior Quinn Cynor, junior Adrian Andre Moreno and sophomores Jacob Gramer and Noah Smith. The team just out-touched the Grizzlies crew by less than a second, setting a new pool record of 1:28.39.
The women’s relay included a group of newcomers — freshman Lara Lilic, senior Hannah Murray, freshmen Ximena Young and Chloe Moore finished with a time of 1:46.97, second to Oakland.
Shortly after, freshman Derin Donmez debuted her career as a Penguin in the 1650 freestyle, with a time of 17:08.97 to place second. On her heels, sophomore Olivia Sweetman clocked a 17:20.73. Sophomore Poyraz San Askin also finished second in the 1650 with a time of 15.47.63, and in the 500 freestyle with 4:40.01.
The Penguins dominated both the 200 freestyle and 200 metre butterfly, touching first in both the women’s and men’s races. Cynor posted a record breaking time of 1:36.48, followed by Sweetman, who made a quick recovery from the 1650 and came back to take the first-place title with a time of 1:52.34. Sweetman also went on to win the 500 free with a time of 5:01.41 — seven seconds faster than she had swum this time last year.
Freshman Orla Machines debuted her career at YSU with a sweep of the fly events in the 200 meter and 100 metre butterfly to set times of 2:04.55 and 56.21. Senior Allison Ramirez also competed in the 200 and 100 fly events with second-and third-place finishes, respectively.
Also claiming his first collegiate win, freshman Valer Kennedy set 1:48.90 and went on to place third in the 100 butterfly.
Hannah Murray recorded her first YSU victories in the 100 breaststroke and 200 individual medley with times of 1:03.89 and 2:04.75. Senior James Slessor also competed in the 100 breaststroke and posted a 55.50, earning him second place.
In the 50 free, freshman Chloe Moore took the victory with a time of 24 seconds. However, the men came up short of first. Gramer took second with a time of 20 seconds, and sophomore Reid Whitney took third.
The Youngstown State men’s squad of Gramer, Cynor, Smith and sophomore Lorenze Beck had a strong end to the night, winning the 400 free relay and smashing the pool record by four seconds with a time of 2:59.80. The women’s relay squad of Sweetman, Moore, Machines and Young clocked a time of 3:30.27 to finish third.
Despite Youngstown State’s notable finishes, Oakland came out on top, outscoring the women, 150-130, and defeating the men, 167-114.
Next up, the Penguins hit the road Oct. 10-11 for their first competition away from home at the two-day Akron Zips Classic.